Although former premier Tang Fei (唐飛) said on Aug. 17 that Taiwan’s indigenous Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile would be like a mosquito’s bite on an elephant, a new report by a US think tank argues that Taiwan must have “some means of hitting back against Chinese military targets.”
“The ability to hit back at Chinese military targets may not have profound operational effects, but when an inferior force takes on a superior one, the ability to strike back has a nontrivial strategic and psychological impact on an attacker,” said the 38-page Asian Alliances in the 21st Century report, released on Tuesday by the Washington-based think tank Project 2049 Institute.
The report states that US allies in the Asia-Pacific region should closely observe China’s strategies against Taiwan because if Beijing believes its “unrelenting intimidation of Taiwan has worked,” then it “may attempt the same strategy to quiet other ‘troublemakers’ in the region.”
Photo: CNA
The report added that US allies in the Asia-Pacific should adjust their national defense strategies in accordance with Beijing’s tactics against Taiwan.
“In the event that Taiwan falls into China’s hands, Asia could be cut in half, the US command of the Pacific would be further imperiled, the South China Sea could become a Chinese lake, and Japan would lose strategic depth,” the report said.
“China has built up the wherewithal [of] ... air and missile campaigns and maritime blockades [and] is developing capabilities to conduct an air and sea denial strategy against forward-deployed US and Japanese forces, [as] in terms of its ‘command of the commons strategy,’ the United States is most vulnerable to threats to its command of space and cyberspace,” it said.
“Taiwan obviously needs a lethal air force as well. F-16C/Ds can ride out the initial missile barrage in underground bunkers and then conduct air-to-air and maritime strike missions enabled by Taiwan’s own Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and a common operating picture provided by the allies,” it said.
“If US administrations are really concerned about the survivability of aircraft in Taiwan, given the threat environment, the United States should consider selling Taiwan vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft or help speed up Taipei’s missile programs,” it said.
“If US and Japanese conventional forces make it clear that they are ready to interpose themselves between Chinese forces and Taiwan through combat air patrols, a ground presence on the island, and counter-blockade operations, then the Chinese may think twice about striking the island in the first place,” the report said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique